Greater New Orleans

Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Kathy Kliebert said Louisiana plans to submit a revised proposal to the federal government for the privatization of six state-run hospitals by the end of the week. (Julia O'Donoghue, NOLA.com/Times-Picayune)

Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration announced Thursday night that it intends to send the federal government a revised financing plan for the privatization of six state-run hospitals by the end of the week.

Louisiana will have to adjust the fiscal arrangement that governs some of its medical facilities for the poor and uninsured or face potential turmoil in its operating budget in 2015. The state would have to pay back at least $200 million to the federal government if an agreement over how to structure the hospitals' privatizations can't be reached.

Still, the Jindal administration didn't provide much in the way of details about the changes they have proposed. Specifically, it's not known whether the state will have to restructure the hospitals' advanced lease payments -- in which private operators pay the state more money in the first years of the contract -- that federal officials appeared to find troubling.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Centers for Medicaid and Medicaid rejected the financial arrangements worked out between private operators and the Jindal administration to run six hospitals for the poor and uninsured. Federal officials said the plans used Medicaid funding inappropriately.

Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals secretary Kathy Kliebert has said the state government and federal officials are close to reaching a deal over the hospital arrangements. The federal government has declined to comment on negotiations.